1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to the movement of granular or fluent particulate matter from a shipping container to a point of use and more particularly to a clean air, vacuum operated bulk material handling system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present when it is desired to use a vacuum system to unload a rail car or tank truck containing granular materials such as grain, corn kernels, beans, plastic pellets, or fluent particulate matter such as molding powders, carbon or lamp black, or coloring agents, the loading and discharge hatches of the rail car are opened to the surrounding environment and air is drawn into the rail car to entrain the granules or particles in the moving air stream. Unfortunately, since the rail car or tank truck is exposed to ambient environment, and often in a very industrial area, the air and grounds about the rail car or tank truck are highly contaminated and these containments can be drawn into the air stream as well as the granules and particulate matter and carried to the using station. These containments could alter the properties of the products being made at the using station. For example, if rubber is being molded, such contaminants could alter the physical or electrical properties of the resultant molded rubber product which could lead to its failure in the field.